the broadcast as he waited during the interview. as you can tell it is bad quality video. but you can see him dying laughing as he hears the anchor say what she said. since this became a famous thing, he apparently runs the video of that blooper when he makes his motivational speeches, a couple of years after that happened, the anchor who did it moved to a dallas station. and her original station staged a reunion, and years later she finally got to explain why she said what she did. >> right before this story, we did extensive covering about a woman who was gay, gay was in the head. and we came out with the tease about you, boom, it happened. you were so gracious, we never talked about it and we moved on. and i'm sorry. >> no, please, i should be thanking you. it is the greatest thing ever. >> it is the greatest thing ever, and the guy who thinks so

is motivating all the members of the republican congress right now as we speak. which is the best new thing in the world right now, you guys be careful. >> good thursday morning. right now on "first look." >> i'll sign a directive giving law enforcement, schools, mental health professionals and the public health community some of the tools they need to help reduce gun violence. >> the president has spoken and there's swift reaction from all sides. the bizarre story of a girlfriend hoax involving notre dame star player. airlines around the globe are groundering their brand new boeing 787 dream liners. plus americans held hostage overseas. nasty weather having an impact here at home. a giant inflatable module heading for space.

good morning, i'm mara schiavocampo. president obama has set the stage important the big legislative battle for his second term. >> i will put everything i got into this and so will joe. but i tell you, the only way we can change is if the american people demand it. >> he's talking about gun control. at a public event wednesday the president called for sweeping changes to gun laws outlining four major legislative proposals asking for a ban on military assault rifles and high capacity magazines, extended background checks and toughening gun laws. mr. obama announced 23 executive actions mostly modest initiatives. at the event the president was surrounded by children who wrote him letters about gun violence. family members of newtown shooting victims were in the audience including the parent of 7-year-old grace mcdonald. >> chris, her father, gave me

one of her paintings. and i hung it in my private study just off the oval office. and every time i look at that painting i think about how it comes to protecting the most vulnerable among us we must act now for grace. >> the nra is getting ready for battle raising money and emailing supporters to upgrade their membership for quote the fight of the century. >> we're not saying that your rights are at risk the president of the united states is saying that. >> so where do things go from here? nbc's tracie potts is in washington for us. how is the president going to get the public and congress to support this legislative agenda? >> reporter: you were talking about the nra getting ready for a battle. the white house has a battle plan as well. it started last night. the president put an op-ed in the connecticut local connecticut newspaper near newtown where the shooting happened putting the pressure on congress saying they need to help and not hinder this

process. the white house also has a campaign style tour planned for the president to talk about his gun control measures. no word yet what the stops are but they are hoping it will drum up public support. the polls are showing the public is increasingly favoring an assault weapons ban and even universal background checks a big part of his plan. finally the white house is putting out a new website with videos from some of the victims, again all part of a big campaign to try to get more public support for these measures that he's announced. >> tracie potts live in washington, thanks. americans held hostage, last week french intervention against rebels in the west african nation of mali has taken a violent term. islamist militants have taken dozens of foreign nationals hostage in algeria including several americans. the u.s. has condemned the action as an terrorist attack. we go cairo for the latest. duncan, what can you tell us about the hostage situation?

>> reporter: hi. this morning some of the hostages have been speaking to an arabic news channel. they said enemy gunfire wounded some of his fellow hostages, the algierian army which is deep in the desert. another said they were being treated well by their captors but we have to consider the circumstances under which they are speaking. one of the militants also gave an interview and demanded that the algierian army pull out from the area before negotiations begin and also repeated that prisoners being held in the neighboring country of mali be released in return for those foreign workers being freed from the gas plant. this all started because of the french army which is now working in mali to rebel islamist rebels. leon panetta says the u.s. will take all necessary and proper steps to deal with the attack but already two people, two foreign nationals have bern

killed. thank you. more boeing 787 dream liners are grounded. the federal aviation administration has ordered the jets not to fly while the risk of battery fires is being investigated. united airlines the only one in the u.s. flying the dreamliner. a cockpit message showed battery problems and a burning smell was detected in the cabin. two biggest airlines in japan have grounded their 787 free-throw shooter pending safety checks. turning now to a bizarre story involving notre dame star linebacker. news that the reported cancer death of his girlfriend was a hoax. in fact the woman never existed. >> reporter: no terrify name linebacker was the centerpiece of a fighting irish football team that shocked experts. recording a storybook season. a highly publicized story about

the death of his girlfriend. she was believed to help inspire te'o. notre dame called it a hoax. >> this was an elaborate hoax perpetrated for reasons we can't fully understand. but had a certain cruelty at its core. >> reporter: the story of the hoax broke reporting the girlfriend doesn't even exist. as the story spread te'o said he's the victim of someone's sick joke and constant lies. notre dame's athletic director says te'o's relationship took place online and he learned of her fake death in a late december phone call. in his statement, te'o thought

they were maintaining an authentic relationship by contacting on the phone. an investigation by a firm hired by notre dame convinced him that te'o was duped into the relationship and fake death. >> nothing about what i've learned has shaken my faith in te'o. >> reporter: plenty of questions remain. now here's your first "first look" at this morning's dish of scrambled politics. even before president obama signed those orders on gun control another congressman is objecting and threatening to start impeachment proceedings. florida republican became the second lawmaker to suggest president obama could be impeached tor trying toby pass the constitution. back in the bush administration in 2007 interior

secretary dirk kenthorn spent $220,000 of government money to remonth elevate his bathroom and a refrigerator that cost $1500. and $689 faucet. newt gingrich is the latest politician to make a cameo appearance on nbc's "parks and recreation." he's involved in a mix up over a table reservations. president obama attended the farewell party for tim geithner. he later joked about what was missing. >> they didn't serve alcohol. >> former president bill clinton has been getting more questions these days about his wife hilary's future including the 2016 presidential race and her health. >> she's always been very, very healthy and she has very low blood pressure, very low standing heart beat.

i tell her she still has time to have three more husbands after me. whenever i'm stubborn about something in our contact quest at my self-improvement she refers to me as her first president. >> and a reminder that msnbc will have all day coverage monday of president obama's second inauguration. and that's your morning dish of scrambled politics. now for a look at the national weather we turn to meteorologist bill karins. good morning. >> some good one liners in there. very entertaining. not fun later today. the deep south your first snow event of the season is coming your way. we have winter storm warnings in pink covering much of the state of virginia, north carolina, central alabama and central portions of mississippi. a little sliver of northern portion of georgia. you can see the movement the storm is taking. right now it's in mississippi. later tonight up through the mid-atlantic. let me show you what it looks like currently. one of those storms that's a

mess. very warm out there right now. it's raining. you're probably thinking how will it snow. temperature in 50 degrees in the carolinas. as the day goes on it will get colder and after dark tonight we'll see this rain turning over to a period of pretty moderate to heavy snow. there's where the snow is currently in mississippi. an inch on the ground in jackson, mississippi an an inch of snow in mississippi is like a foot of snow up in the great lakes or northeast. this will shut things down. it's spreading to the north and spread towards tupelo and columbus and northern portions near huntsville. as far as the temperatures go, this is why it's a tricky forecast. 52 in charlotte, 50 in raleigh. you'll be shoveling notice tomorrow morning at this time. how much snow are we talking about? this is the fixes for the bigger cities. asheville will get four to six, richmond two to four, charlotte, north carolina, birmingham about an inch or so. atlanta and washington, d.c., you're on the fringes of the storm. i expect about less than an inch. the biggest problems is black

ice after the storm is gone. >> sure to complicate things. newtown, connecticut school superintendent blasts the critics. president obama's likely new chief of staff will name names. and jeans that offer your legs and image something they never had before. you're watching "first look" on msnbc. [ female announcer ] born from the sweet monk fruit, something this delicious could only come from nature. new nectresse. the 100% natural no-calorie sweetener made from the goodness of fruit. new nectresse.

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welcome back. here's some other stories making news this morning. the superintendent of schools in newtown, connecticut is rejecting the idea of armed guards in schools. she testified at a congressional hearing saying she just can't see teachers carrying weapons. published reports say deputy national security adviser is likely to become president obama's next chief of staff replacing jack liu. the famed boardwalk in seaside heights, new jersey destroyed by superstorm sandy will be rebuilt. the town awarded a contract to have the boardwalk restored in

time for the memorial day weekend starting the big summer season at the jersey shore. nasa has come up with a unique design for astronaut housing that's like a bounce house. the inflatable space pods will be tested at the international space station. the dow snapped a losing streak thanks to boeing. the stock fell after the faa grounded all dreamliner flights. looking ahead weekly jobless claims come out this morning and intel reports earnings after the bell. yesterday confidence among u.s. home builders was at the highest level in seven years. realtytrac says foreclosure activity was at a six year low as the housing market continues to recover and help to prevent a repeat of the kind of abuses that led to a nationwide mortgage meltdown. this morning new rules will be announce freezing drizzle tent homeowners.

as of january next year, there will be clear monthly billing statements, warn them of interest rate hikes and dual tracking will be eliminated, delinquent loans can't be considered for modification and foreclosure at the same time. on the earnings front e-bay reported in line with expectations but fell short of full year estimates. tough times at circus desoleil. they will slash 400 jobs after cancelling several shows. germany is bringing home the gold. gold bars stored in the u.s. and france are being shipped back to the homeland following criticism germany's central bank lacks proper oversight. west coast coffee houses are about to get some competition. dunkin' donuts is setting up shop by 2015. is this for real? wrangler is launching

moisturizing jeans. the denim line will come with aloe vera, natural butters and a pair that claims to fight cellulite for a cool $136. i wonder how that holds up in the laundry. the president and vice president will be hitting the road to promote their gun control proposals. how effective will they be? jimmy williams is live on "first look" next. ♪ [ male announcer ] how do you turn an entrepreneur's dream... ♪ into a scooter that talks to the cloud? ♪ or turn 30-million artifacts... ♪

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>> turning back to our top story. looming battle over gun control. joining me now is jimmy williams a senior adviser to dick durbin. let's get right into this. the nra has been effective in pushing their agenda and they call this the fight of the century. what does the white house have to do to get this legislation through? >> they have to convince harry reid a democrat from nevada and also a pro gun democrat to bring a bill up. but he has indicated in some local press back in nevada that he's not going to do that any time soon. he said the first thing on his agenda is to bring up immigration reform. so after the president is inaugurated, if you will, they are going to probably move to some wrap up stuff and then go straight to immigration reform. the question is when will the senate go to it.

also leader reid said he won't move anything that can't get through the house. the house is controlled by republicans. and they are mostly pro gun caucus then it sounds to me like the senate won't take up the issue of gun safety or gun control any time soon. so we'll have to wait and see what kind of pressure the white house puts on their own democratic leaders. >> as we heard earlier, obama and members of his administration will be launching a campaign style push on this issue in the coming weeks. why is public support so key? >> basically, the president has the bully pulpit and that's someone no one in the senate or house, they don't have that. they can't go around the country. they can go to their individual districts or back to their states but when the president of the united states speaks to the country, that is something that members of congress both democrats and republicans have to listen to whether they like it or not so that bully pulpit is very important. and it's basically you're going to see call them the rock 'em

sock 'em deal. the president will be going up against the nra. you need to see where the president goes, how often he goes. and exactly what he's going to be saying out on the stump. if he does his, this campaign for gun control like he did his re-election campaign then i don't put it past the president to get something through congress. i don't know what it will be. i want will be hard to get anything through a republican congress. he can do that, yes. >> thanks so much for your perspective. >> thanks. >> turning now to sports. the nba, heat vz the wizards, 28-year-old lebron james is now the youngest player to reach the 20,000 point mark in his career. only 38 other players have reached that point. heat cruised to an easy win over golden state 92-75. overtime thriller as chicago's dang hit a jump shot

with three second left on the clock. and a dramatic upset in college basketball as maryland was trailing with five seconds left in the game. one shot missed but alex grabbed it and scored to knock off number 14 north carolina state, 51-50. in the nfl, jim kelley is the new head coach of the philadelphia eagles. and a billboard sign in boston is counting down the minutes until the retirement party for baltimore linebacker ray lewis. the sign suggests the patriots will beat the ravens in the playoffs again on sunday and lewis will retire after 17 nfl seasons. well just ahead charlie sheen names the biggest partiers on the planet. plus the catch of the day comes from michigan but it's not the kind you want to find on your plate. you're watching "first look" on msnbc. ♪

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. take a look at this. in detroit a fisherman was angling for perch but got a none mysterious fish. he caught a three pound 15 inch goldfish. he plans to mount the trophy catch on his wall. probably wouldn't fit in a fish bowl anyway. moving to entertainment. who parties harder than sheen. according to sheen johnny depp and sean penn are hard core. calling sean penn hard core. actor conrad, the father figure on "different strokes" passed away at the age of 9.

>> al pacino is make a film about joe paterno. >> in a recent interview the actor likeened his abs to pets you got to feed them and take care of them otherwise they go away. jessica simpson chatted with jay about her second pregnancy. >> you do it like last time you told me you went crazy eating. >> yeah. the last time i kind of ate everything in sight. we've had two different wedding dates but he keeps knock me up. >> kind of gets in the way. finally "american idol" premiered their new judges. was nikki and maria's arguing too much? 86% respondents say yes. >> i'm still not sure if i want to watch it. >> i'm not interested in seeing women argue on